Megan Westberg

2 weeks ago | stringsmagazine.com | Megan Westberg

By Megan Westberg | From the May/June 2025 issue of StringsIt is an impassioned voice. A raised female voice. “Human life, for us, is sacred,” she says. Music swells beneath her. Bittersweet. Soaring. Rushing in and then retreating. She goes on. “For as we say, if any life is to be sacrificed, it shall be ours.” Orchestral crescendos punctuate her phrases, diminishing on a dime as her voice turns to soprano gravel from shouting.

3 weeks ago | stringsmagazine.com | Megan Westberg

By Megan Westberg | From the March/April 2025 issue of StringsSometime around the year 2000, violinist David Harrington of the California-based Kronos Quartet received an email. Its author wasn’t a colleague or a publicist. Or even an adult. This email was, in fact, written by a teenage cellist living roughly 5,000 miles away. His name was Peter Gregson. “There’s nothing quite as precocious as 14 years of age,” says a now-grown-up Gregson over the phone from his London home.

2 months ago | stringsmagazine.com | Megan Westberg

By Megan Westberg | From the January/February 2025 issue of StringsString players will often begin their training long before they have grown into full-size instruments. To give budding musicians a tuneful start, the most must be made of fractional instruments, from which it can, at times, be challenging to coax an encouraging and satisfying tone.

Feb 5, 2025 | flipboard.com | Megan Westberg

7 hours agoThis week, a violin made by famed Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari could become the most expensive musical instrument ever sold at auction. Sotheby's is estimating that a Stradivarius made in 1714 could fetch $12 to $18 million on Friday. The upper end of that range could beat the previous record …

Jan 24, 2025 | stringsmagazine.com | Megan Westberg

By Laurie NilesAs a violinist and teacher who lives in Pasadena, I have witnessed first-hand the devastation of the fires that have ravaged Southern California in early January. This week I saw two of my violin students—sisters—whose elementary and middle schools had both burned down in the fire. They had been out of school for two weeks—since the Eaton Canyon Fire—and were waiting to be relocated. The third-grader explained that her class had had a picnic so the kids could see each other.